The Great Wall (2017) Review!!!

Synopsis – A mystery centered around the construction of the Great Wall of China.

My Take – Let me get one thing out of the way first, yes, this is a Chinese film with Hollywood star Matt Damon (Jason Bourne, Ocean’s 11) as the lead, not the way around! While the Chinese film industry remains on track to become the world’s largest within the next few years, a bona fide crossover hit continues to prove elusive. Hollywood fare has dominated the global box office for decades, but Chinese-themed blockbusters have only performed domestically. The basic project was for a Chinese production company, with the help of US partners, to make a film that had Chinese cultural elements, world-famous stars, a story basically in English and a huge global box office potential. With celebrated director Zhang Yimou at the helm, backed by Chinese-owned Hollywood studio Legendary, and a cast of A-list talent from both East and West, this film appears tailor-made to finally buck this trend. Headlined by Matt Damon and Hong Kong’s Andy Lau, the US$150 million, making it the most expensive film ever made in China, this fantasy adventure naturally emerges as the most promising candidate to date. Before it came out, though, there was already a backlash against using Caucasian actors as the stars in a Chinese historical fantasy film. On one hand, casting Matt Damon, Pedro Pascal and Willem Dafoe potentially took work from Asian actors and also shifted the focus of the story away from Asian characters. On the other hand, without the big international names this film would not have been made with a $150 million budget and would not have had a global release. So none of the cast of hundreds of actors (not to mention thousands of technicians) would have had work at all or any amount of international exposure. However, after making a splashing debut with $67.4 million in its opening weekend back in China, the film has begun releasing internationally, testing the water for a new period in US-China film cooperation. Despite being a fan of Matt Damon, something about this film kept me away from it, mainly from the description it sounded kind of strange and I wasn’t sure it was something I really wanted to watch and guess what I’m glad I did. It’s an old legend or story. Is it real? I don’t know! Does it matter if it is true or accurate? The US-Chinese effort offers a lot of good things and a few rough spots, putting it a bit ahead of the curve.

The film is meant to be a colorful fantasy in the distant Song Dynasty, roughly the 11th century AD. It has its share of historical flaws, but it is a monster-filled adventure, not a history lesson. And if you are willing to overlook the controversy of casting Matt Damon as the lead in a costume drama-fantasy taking place at the titular Chinese location, it is actually one of the better of the CGI-filled fantasy action films released in recent years. . The visuals are stunning to say the least. The costumes are incredible and I am very happy that most of the film wasn’t filmed in the dark which seems to have become the habit of Hollywood these past few years. The cinematography is breathtaking and for all the duration I was more than a film spectator, I felt part of that legend, a character from that story, present among the troops defending the wall. If a film succeeds in delivering such an experience, the rest is not important anymore. The story follows William Garin (Matt Damon), an Irish mercenary who along with his Spanish companion, Pero Tovar (Pedro Pascal) has been heading east in search for truth behind rumors of a black powder weapon that will make them rich. Travelling for days, the two unwittingly stumble upon a wall while fleeing tribesmen, greeted by an enormous army and the stunning sweep of the enormous structure rising from the mist. Their claims to be traders are swiftly debunked and Garin falls over himself to demonstrate his skills a fighter as soon as the Taotie, a group of flesh-eating monsters who scale the Great Wall every 60 years to feed & keep in check the greed of humanity. Gradually earning the gradual respect of the so-called Nameless Order and its leader, General Shao (Zhang Hanyu) after displaying an ability to leap in headfirst and slash green-blooded monsters, Garin lends his support to deputy Commander Lin (Jing Tian), while a baffled Tovar plans his escape with the Order’s gunpowder with the help of Ballard (Willem Dafoe), a former mercenary & an unwilling member for the past 25 years, while teaching the members of the army English and Latin. Earlier allegations of “whitewashing” seem, in the main, unfounded. The foreigners really don’t cover themselves in glory; they run, steal and trick each other, providing occasional comic relief, while the Chinese demonstrate self-sacrifice and discipline. A disheveled Garin spends much of the film struggling to comprehend the system the Order embodies, confused and humbled by the language and the culture. His life-saving acts of heroism are returned with just as much aplomb. Sure after that revelation, the story has little mileage. Every predictable turn comes to pass, and most major developments loom so large it’s a wonder the elite fighters don’t spot them. At this point, I stopped about plot holes or historical inaccuracies, because I came to cinema to see a fantasy, a Chinese legend with monsters and heroes. And there I was, in a war story, set in a different world, filled with amazing elements of the old Chinese culture, surrounded by exceptional warriors, beautiful landscapes and bloodthirsty monsters. Aside from the nods to Chinese culture, there is little to differentiate between this and any other Hollywood action adventure. It won’t be remembered as Zhang’s best film, but the director’s artistic touch is on display in his long panoramic sweeps and artful use of color. Simultaneously futuristic and historic, the visual spectacle carries the film, while Zhang manages to include plenty of promised “Chinese elements”, including a beautiful shot of traditional sky lanterns at one character’s funeral. The film has some shut-the-heck-up moments of sheer goofiness, and bits that make you a little annoyed because the scriptwriters keep people deliberately clueless just so some light bulb moment can occur in the lead actor’s presence. (All the more reason to needlessly justify the film’s perceived “whitewashing” which, I have to say, largely seems to be just a chip on someone’s shoulder.) The script follows standard protocols.

William and Pero have to prove themselves to their captors, the battle won’t easily be won, and there is some amount of duplicity and treachery from the usual suspects and there’s lots bloodshed and daring fights, allowing several people to be heroic and the reluctant hero learns vital lessons of self-sacrifice, honor and trust from his Chinese counterparts. The film never misses an opportunity to marvel at the might and ingenuity of the Chinese military, from its use of gunpowder to its elaborate weaponry, which incorporates everything from hot air balloons to bungee cords. Men and women are equally adept on the battlefield, while imperial courtiers are shamed for their cowardice and pandering. Director Zhang Yimou brought a strong visual style to the proceedings, with an emphasis on bold and colorful costumes, massive crowd scenes, stunning landscapes and lavish sets. The battles are impressively choreographed visual ballets with lots of physical stunts. There are also some visually poetic scenes such as the launching of thousands of paper lanterns after the death of a key character. Even the CGI scenes with the hordes of monsters have a strong eye on composition. My only problem with the film especially considering its genre & proceedings is that it takes itself so seriously that it becomes hilarious. The story has been criticized already in China for not being authentic to Chinese story motifs, and instead having just the most obvious cultural references. This is likely due the script and original story coming from Hollywood writers including Bourne series writer Tony Gilroy, as well as Doug Miro and Carlo Bernard, who both worked on 2010s Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (which was also criticized for its casting). There are moments when the dialogue between William and Pero sounds like what you would get from a DVD commentary. Do we need the actors to explain what’s happening in a scene? The director doesn’t get very deep and emotional performances from his cast, but he manages to make the rather fanciful story at least credible enough for those who want to go along with it. It is sad to see Matt Damon growing old but he still did a great job, I wonder how long he’s going to be able to keep up doing physically demanding roles. Damon cuts a fine figure as William, finding redemption from his wrongful past despite a truly shocking Irish accent, while Andy Lau is awesome as always, but it is Tian Jing who stands out in an otherwise all-male cast. Pedro Pascal makes the most of his flawed comedy sidekick role, while Lu Han is alright. That leaves little screen time for the likes of Willem Dafoe or Eddie Peng Yu-yan to make their mark. Director Zhang Yimou is known for his award winning art house hits such as Raise the Red Lantern (1991) and The Story of Qiu Ju (1992) as well as the martial-arts romances like House of Flying Daggers (2004) and Curse of the Golden Flower (2006), while his 2002 film Hero was a notable success in the United States, his more recent film, the excellent Christian Bale drama The Flowers of War failed to find an international audience, and this one, while big, brash, and achieving cross-cultural understanding on only the most basic level, shows the director’s flair for visual grandeur. On the whole, ‘The Great Wall’ is a no-nonsense visual extravaganza with plenty of adventure that is enjoyable despite its lack of emotional weight.